Herbert Diess says there is a future for Seat and praises Spanish Government for PERTE

After using Twitter to praise the work of the auto group ‘capo’ Pedro Sánchez, he took to Linkedin (his favorite social network) to praise the Spanish Government again and give Seat some love after the rumors. pointing to evidence Gradual disintegration of the brand with the horizon of 2029. Clearly The seat is not destroyed, it is like energy, it is transformedand Cupra are part of this transformation as a pioneer of a company that will focus on the profitability of its models and the production of small electric vehicles for the Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra group brands.

Herbert Diess wanted to emphasize the following in his message about LinkedIn:Cupra won’t replace Seat, it’ll just help make it more profitable”. This is not to say that the future product offering for the Spanish brand is not very well defined. There are no new models on the horizon beyond next year’s restyling (facelift) of the Seat Leon. The expiry date of the Spanish series is 2029, which means that the production of Seat Ibiza, Seat Arona and Seat León will end. Seat Tarraco will do this shortly, and the Seat Ateca (both made outside of Spain) will be subject to the group’s decisions regarding the segment, but electrification as we now know it will certainly be its grave. They will hold the Cupra Formentor (which will evolve). decision Where will it be installed and with what technology? not yet released.

microchip crisis

For Herbert Diess, a commitment to Cupra and profitability is a reality. Right now Microchip crisis accelerates Seat’s transition “With the limited supply of semiconductors, we are undoubtedly prioritizing the production of the Cupras, thus providing more margin than some of Seat’s access models,” explains SA Diess. The advent of electrification also ‘hit’ Seat. “To electrify (Seat as a company) we are prioritizing, or even launching, Cupra models that offer greater margins. new models It makes a lot of sense economically only under this brand,” he adds, adding that our distributors also benefit from this configuration.

The head of the automobile consortium (second in the world after Toyota in vehicle sales with 4.5 million units in 2021) has been emphasizing the Cupra for some time now. However, in 2020, when El Periódico interviewed him privately at the Davos Forum, he spoke about “The seat is a reference for the Volkswagen group,” but he has already predicted the transformation of the company, whose workforce is seeking complicity: trust in the Martorell plant and its employees. They form an important part of the group and we will continue to work on our strategy.Including Cupra. I have always seen Cupra and Seat as a unit and I think we will grow Seat by introducing Cupra. Inseparable. It’s not one or the other.” Although the moment of coming-of-age for Cupra seems to have come after the pandemic and with electrification.

In that sense, Diess said, “The core Seat brand is stronger than ever: we have invested more in Seat than ever before in recent years, and Ibiza, Arona, Ateca, León, León Sportstourer and Tarracco are the most solid and several of the Seat business council chairman Matías Carnero. As he stated in EL PERIÓDICO a week ago, a definitive vision to date, but a broader worldview probably than ever, for decades without a future”: “It so happens that in presentation Results The company’s There was little reference to Seat in Barcelona on March 23. Cupra and the battery factory initially monopolized the action, which Seat representatives didn’t count as much.

Seat investment

Diess maintains his trust in Seat (and more in Cupra) and Wayne Griffiths. “we have invested more than eight billion euros in this program (Seat’s program), something unique over the years. We look forward to continued success with this model range and updates for years to come (although the ceiling is 2029 for now). And I’m sure Wayne is doing everything possible to sell as many Seats and Cupras as possible so that Seat is profitable as soon as possible: it’s time”, Diess exclaims on his favorite social network.

At the company level, the Martorell plant, Diess says, “producing for the rest of the brands should allow Seat to be even more profitable and help create and save jobs”, a ‘sweetie’ has been launched in the unions that continue to negotiate the deal with early retirement on the table (talking from 1100 but there will be more). Currently, future production will be for small electric cars from Cupra, Skoda and Volkswagen, while small SUVs will be made in Landaben for the same brands. Again, no sign of Seat.

Diess focuses on this electric platform Seat (company) small to ‘save’: “This represents many opportunities: leading the design and production of Skoda and Volkswagen on the new small BEV platform to make electric cars affordable for many, the group’s activities in the Iberian Peninsula to coordinate and to stimulate Spain’s electrification, Europe… as well as being successful with its own Seat and Cupra brands”.

Spain, industrial power

While giving hot cloths to the Spanish brand, it also seizes the opportunity to ‘soap’ the project of the Spanish brand. PERTE and industrial power of Spain. “Spain will be Volkswagen’s second electric vehicle production center in Europe after Germany! Volkswagen Group is investing €7 billion in Spain, with a total investment of €10 billion including 62 companies in the Spanish PERTE programme, which represents the largest industrial investment Spain has ever received. For Volkswagen and Seat SA this means: a new Gigafactory of batteries in Sagunt, Electrification of our plants in Martorell and Pamplona, ​​powered by renewable energies, near Valencia. From 2025, several small electric cars from Volkswagen, Cupra and Skoda will be produced in Spain.